By Chris Moore

chris.moore@panews.com

 

BEAUMONT — Jefferson County Commissioners’ Court was brief Monday, but plenty of work lies ahead with two workshops imminent.

County Judge Jeff Branick said it was the fastest meeting of his 12-year stint with the court.

“It was the first time the invocation and pledge of allegiance was long than the court,” he said laughing.

Pledge and invocation included, the commissioners’ court lasted roughly two-and-a-half minutes. Only two county auditor items were on the agenda. The first was for the transfer of $1,400 from furniture and fixtures to assistants and clerks. The second was approving the checks in the regular county bills.

Both passed unanimously by the judge along with Precinct 2 Commissioner Brent Weaver and Precinct 4 Commissioner Everett “Bo” Alfred. Precinct 1 Commissioner Eddie Arnold and Precinct 3 Commissioner Michael Sinegal were absent.

Branick said the court will have workshops in the upcoming weeks to discuss renovations to the concession stands and for Ford Park and the Jefferson County morgue.

The judge said the latter would be in closed session because the commissioners will discuss contracts that would give a contractor an upper hand in negotiations if the discussions were made public.

“The (county) morgue is in really bad shape,” Branick said. “It’s 25 years old and needs a lot of work. The question is how are we going to get a new building built to accommodate a pathologist to do the autopsies for the surrounding counties in a way that is most cost efficient.”

Branick said the county has been working since 2015 to ease the problems with the concession stands at Ford Park.

“We are able to use hotel/motel occupancy tax for the construction,” he said. “When we first went out for bids, we had about $320,000 and the lowest bid came back at 438,000. Now we have $500,000 so we’re going to have to go back and revisit what needs to be tweaked from those plans and specifications.”

The workshop for the Ford Park construction is expected to follow commissioners’ court Monday, but isn’t official, Branick said.

The closed session involving the morgue is not yet scheduled but expected to occur in the upcoming weeks.